


My Once Upon A Time

by Thefemalearrow



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Depression, Descendants - Freeform, F/M, Gen, Henry Mills is The Author (Once Upon a Time), Immortality, King Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time), Next Generation, Post-Canon, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-23 05:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30050277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thefemalearrow/pseuds/Thefemalearrow
Summary: What if being the author also made Henry immortal? How would he deal with this?
Relationships: Cinderella | Jacinda Vidrio/Henry Mills, Evil Queen | Regina Mills & Henry Mills, Henry Mills & Emma Swan, Henry Mills & Hope Swan-Jones, Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time) & Original Character(s), Lucy & Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time), Prince Charming | David Nolan/Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a minute since I wrote for this fandom. This is a random story idea. It is inspired by "Remembrance" By Ashley H. I recommend that story. It's a different fandom, but the story is good. Now, on with the chapter!

Years after the realms combined, Henry realized something: he wasn't aging. As his wife, Ella grew grey hairs, he stayed looking like a twenty-something. It even got to the point where Lucy looked too old to be his daughter.

It wasn't till one night that things started to make sense. He was laying in bed with Ella when the Sorcer's Apprentice appeared. He knew it was a dream since the apprentice had been dead since he was a teen.

"Hello, Henry," The Apprentice said.

"Hello," Henry greeted.

"There is something I forget to tell you before I died," The Apprentice said. "I would have told you in the underworld, but there were more important things then. You've probably realized that you haven't aged in years. All authors stop aging at a certain point. When you became the author, you became the guardian of the storybook. As long as the stories are alive, you will be too. You can only die if you lose your author powers or you're killed by the next author."

"So, I'm immortal?" Henry asked. The Apprentice nodded mutely. What he had just learned dawn on him. He was going to have to watch all of his family die, including Lucy. He had to stop this. "How will I know who the next author is?"

"You won't," the Appertance said. Before Henry could ask more questions, the Appretance disappeared.  
\---  
One hundred years passed, and Henry resigned himself to a small part of Regina's castle. After Regina's passing, Henry took over as king. King Henry the II is what people referred to him as. He was a fair ruler, but he rarely made appearances to his subjects.

Most of his interaction came from his descendants. He was forced to watch generations of his family come and go. They gave up on keeping up with the greats in his title, and just called him 'Uncle Henry.'

Henry was perched in his room. He was going his daily rounds on checking the stories. He needed to make sure all of the stories hadn't been tampered with. New stories were being created every day. He couldn't get through all of them on a normal day.

His fingers drifted on a familiar tail. The story where his grandparents fell in love. It was the original one. Not the version where Emma and Hook intervened. He often read both versions on his saddest days.

He was still looking for a solution out of his immortality. It might take another hundred years, but he will be reunited with his family. Even if it was the last thing he did.


	2. Chapter 1

Henry was perched on his throne, which used to belong to his mother. He rarely sat here since he never felt it was his. He briefly considered getting a round table to meet with his counsel, like King Arthur, but then he decided it was too big of honor for the traitorous king. He found it hard to believe that the events in Camelot, which led to him meeting his first love, were just a minor chapter in his long story.

The throne doors burst open. One of his descendants, Tiana, entered. She was holding her three-year-old daughter, Faith. He was related to most of the kingdom due to his complicated family tree, but Tiana and Faith were his closest. Tiana was the granddaughter of Lucy, making her directly from his bloodline.

"Uncle Henwy," Faith shouted. She ran over to Henry and made grabby hands at him. Henry sat the girl on his lap. She looked like a spinning image of Lucy at this age. She had her long dark brown hair and sparkly brown eyes. She also had chestnut skin.

"B and I are going out for drinks tonight," Tiana said. "You should join us. You rarely get out of the castle, and this bar has the best cocktails. Who knows? You might meet someone."

Henry knew what she was trying to do. Tiana had been trying to help him find someone for Henry. It was usually more subtle, introducing Henry to one of her friends or a stranger at one of the few balls he attended. He didn't end up falling for any of these women.

He had taken a concubine once, but their relationship didn't last long. It lasted two weeks. The girl, Arianna, was both beautiful and intelligent, but Henry realized he didn't feel much for her. He didn't throw her out on the streets, though. When she was dismissed from the castle, he gave her land and more than enough money to get started. Last he heard, she had started back up Granny's Diner.

"No thanks, I still have a lot to do around the castle," Henry said. It wasn't a lie. He still had a bunch of work to do. He still had a few stories he had to check for tampering with, and a bill to read over.

"I'm sure it can wait one night," Tiana pleaded. "Come on, you don't have to be serious twenty-four seven. In your youth, you always made time to have fun. What happened with Henry?"

"I just have a lot more responsibilities now," Henry said. Tiana could read the upset on his face. She picked up Faith from Henry's lap. She knew it was nearing the anniversary of her grandmother's passing.

"We'll be at Humpty Dumpy Cavern if you change your mind," Tiana explained. She then left the castle, once again leaving the king by himself.  
\---  
That night, Henry was on his tour. He was reading through the story when Emma first came to Storybrook. He was on the page with Emma and the cupcake. He smiled as he turned the page.

A strange shadow danced across the page. Henry furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what that meant. He had studied these pages. He had never seen such a thing in his hundred plus years of existence.

Suddenly the strange shadow was gone, leaving Henry in a state of confusion.


	3. Chapter 2

The next morning, Henry was sitting on the throne. He was admiring the portraits of his family he had painted years ago. It was about a year after the realms merged. It was just of him, Ella, and Lucy. He had portraits of all of his family, but this was the one he chose to keep in his throne room.

The throne room doors were thrown open. His right-hand-woman, Bong-Cha, had entered the room. She was his messenger to the outside world. Most of the time, if he had a message for his kingdom, she announced it. "There's something wrong," she explained. "You should take a look at it."

Henry followed Bo-Chang outside of the castle. He rarely ventured off of the grounds, so people gave him confused looks. He was dressed down for a king. His mother wasn't always wearing fancy ballgowns or pantsuits, and occasionally her citizens saw it.

They arrived at the town center. Passed the statue of Robin Hood, the town was trapped in nighttime. The rest of the town looked like a normal Fall morning. "It's been like this all morning," Bo-Chang said.

"Has anyone new moved here?" Henry asked. This was the first time dealing with a crisis by himself. Even when he was a hero, he had his family behind his back. Even when he felt the loneliest, he still had the love of his family. Now he'd have to face one mostly by himself. He was one of the only ones left in the kingdom with a form of magic.

"Only the Arandelle ambassadors," Bong-Cha said. "You don't think they're behind this?"

"No, Arandelle is one of our biggest allies," Henry said. "I'm to study the stories in my tower. I'll look to see if anything like this has happened in the past. Try to keep the citizens calm. I hope to have it fixed by lunchtime."

Before Chang-Ba could protest, Henry walked off. "And he goes back into his hole," she murmured.  
\---  
Henry flipped through the pages of Robin Hood. It became one of his favorite stories in his late teens. Even after he met all of these classic fairytale characters and learning he was related to a lot of them, he gained a new appreciation for these tales. The only stories he'd never be able to read again were Peter Pan or 101 Dalmations.

He looked up from the storybook. There was a glowing story on the shelf. The one where he brought Emma to Storybrook and broke the curse. He set the book on his desk and reached for it. He was then sucked into the book.  
\---  
"Nice story, kid," a woman's voice said. Henry realized that he was on a bus in New York. He was holding the Snow and Charming Storybook. He turned to the woman beside him.

"It's not just a story," Henry said. He felt like that line was very scripted, even though this was an actual memory he had. He was even in control of his actions. He wondered if he had time traveled without creating the portal.

The bus then stopped. Henry climbed off, noticing his reflection in the window. He was his ten-year-old self again. He was wearing his signature outfit at that age; the black jacket and scarf.

He made his way to the apartment building. He felt this is where he was supposed to go. He entered the building and climbed up the stairs. He found Emma's apartment and knocked on the door.

Emma Swan opened the door. Her blonde hair was curled, and wearing a red dress. It took Henry back for a moment to see Emma so healthy. He stepped back slightly but quickly recovered. "Who are you?" Emma asked.

"My name is Henry Mills," Henry said after a moment. "I'm your son."


End file.
